Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus
Why did human beings first begin to write history? Lisa Irene Hau argues that a driving force among Greek historians was the desire to use the past to teach lessons about the present and for the future. She uncovers the moral messages of the ancient Greek writers of history and the techniques they used to bring them across. Hau also shows how moral didacticism was an integral part of the writing of history from its inception in the 5th century BC, how it developed over the next 500 years in parallel with the development of historiography as a genre and how the moral messages on display remained surprisingly stable across this period.
For the ancient Greek historiographers, moral didacticism was a way of making sense of the past and making it relevant to the present; but this does not mean that they falsified events: truth and morality were compatible and synergistic ends.

1125685430
Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus
Why did human beings first begin to write history? Lisa Irene Hau argues that a driving force among Greek historians was the desire to use the past to teach lessons about the present and for the future. She uncovers the moral messages of the ancient Greek writers of history and the techniques they used to bring them across. Hau also shows how moral didacticism was an integral part of the writing of history from its inception in the 5th century BC, how it developed over the next 500 years in parallel with the development of historiography as a genre and how the moral messages on display remained surprisingly stable across this period.
For the ancient Greek historiographers, moral didacticism was a way of making sense of the past and making it relevant to the present; but this does not mean that they falsified events: truth and morality were compatible and synergistic ends.

39.95 In Stock
Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus

Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus

by Lisa Irene Hau
Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus

Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus

by Lisa Irene Hau

Overview

Why did human beings first begin to write history? Lisa Irene Hau argues that a driving force among Greek historians was the desire to use the past to teach lessons about the present and for the future. She uncovers the moral messages of the ancient Greek writers of history and the techniques they used to bring them across. Hau also shows how moral didacticism was an integral part of the writing of history from its inception in the 5th century BC, how it developed over the next 500 years in parallel with the development of historiography as a genre and how the moral messages on display remained surprisingly stable across this period.
For the ancient Greek historiographers, moral didacticism was a way of making sense of the past and making it relevant to the present; but this does not mean that they falsified events: truth and morality were compatible and synergistic ends.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781474427135
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Publication date: 08/01/2017
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 9.10(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Lisa Irene Hau is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Glasgow. She holds a PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London, and studied for her first two degrees at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. She is the author of Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (EUP 2016) and co-editor of Diodoros of Sicily. Historiographical Theory and Practice in the Bibliotheke, (Peeters 2018) and Truth and History in the Ancient World. Pluralising the Past (Routledge 2016). She has also published articles on numerous topics related to ancient historiography. In 2017-18 she held an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship for experienced researchers at the University of Heidelberg.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part I. Hellenistic Historiography

Chapter 1. Polybius

Chapter 2. Diodorus Siculus

Chapter 3. Fragmentary Hellenistic Historiography

Introduction

Timaeus of Tauromenium (FGrH 566)

Duris of Samos (FGrH 76)

Phylarchus (FGrH 81)

Agatharchides of Cnidus (FGrH 86)

Posidonius of Apamea (FGrH 87)

Hieronymus of Cardia (FGrH 154)

Conclusion

Part II. Classical Historiography

Introduction

Chapter 4. Herodotus

Chapter 5. Thucydides

Chapter 6. Xenophon Hellenica

Chapter 7. Fragments of Classical Historiographers

The Oxyrhynchus Historian

Ephorus of Cyme (FGrH 70)

Theopompus of Chios (FGrH 115) Conclusion: from macro and minimalist moralising to explicit paradeigmata

Conclusion

Bibliography

Text editions

Scholarly literature

What People are Saying About This

Hau deploys the overt moralising of the Hellenistic historians to illuminate the more implicit and thought-provoking moralising of their Classical forebears. Among other questions she asks: does moral didacticism make for bad historiography? Was it simply a lens for viewing events, or could it drive wholesale invention?

The University of North Carolina Emily Baragwanath

Hau deploys the overt moralising of the Hellenistic historians to illuminate the more implicit and thought-provoking moralising of their Classical forebears. Among other questions she asks: does moral didacticism make for bad historiography? Was it simply a lens for viewing events, or could it drive wholesale invention?

From the B&N Reads Blog
Page 1 of

Customer Reviews